Travel Counsellors smashes sales records for second time

Travel Counsellors is celebrating after smashing the company's sales records, breaking through the £5 million barrier for the second time in its 25-year history last week.

With January 31 delivering the highest figure achieved in a single day of £5.2m, the month also saw 369 of the company's business owners enjoy their best-ever sales.

The news comes as the independent travel company reports a record-breaking month, confirming a 10% rise in sales on the same period last year, and UK sales up by 15% in the first quarter of the financial year.

The company, which now has over 1,900 independent franchisees running their own corporate and leisure travel businesses in seven countries, achieved global sales of £90m last month. In total 3 out of 5 of the firm's top sales days were achieved in January 2020.

Record levels of bookings were sourced through the company's in-house booking platform, Phenix, with over half of the company's leisure travel itineraries created in the platform in January.

Tailor-made itineraries and bookings made through the company's directly contacted hotels increased by a total of 23%, enabling Travel Counsellors to operate in a tour operating capacity, boosting individual business growth though creating highly personalised experiences for travellers.

The company also reported more than a 40% increase in customers taking advantage of Travel Counsellors dedicated travel app and secure payment portal, myTC, with 8,000 new customer accounts created in January 2020 alone.

Travel Counsellors CEO, Steve Byrne, pictured, said: "Customers frequently tell us that they love having the option to contact their Travel Counsellor at a tap of a button. The continuous investment into myTC reflects the innovative spirit that's fueled Travel Counsellors double-digit growth for the last quarter of a century, ensuring the uniquely human touch our business owners provide for their customers is complemented by highly personalised digital experiences."

Byrne confirmed 75% of customers who receive a quote from their Travel Counsellor via myTC go on to make a booking within seven days.

The company's corporate travel arm, Travel Counsellors for Business, boosted the surge in January sales with a 60% increase in corporate travel bookings made in the previous month, and a 10% increase in bookings made in the same period last year.

January represented one of Travel Counsellors for Business' best months with sales on January 24 topping £1.1m in one day, with a third of corporate sales also booked in Phenix and managed through myTC.